Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 21
The twin issues of death 130 children in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district and attack on junior doctors in West Bengal today reverberated in Rajya Sabha with members asking for an urgent intervention by the Centre in case of the epidemic and enacting a law to make such assaults a non-bailable offence.
The issue first figured when Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu was reading out obituary references on death of former members as well as those killed in terrorist attacks in New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Opposition members demanded a similar reference be made for the children who died in Bihar.
Naidu first asked the Secretary-General to “take care of the Bihar thing” and bring an appropriate resolution, as such a reference was not listed in the agenda paper for the day. But after making a reference to June 21 being celebrated as International Day of Yoga, he said that a number of children had died in Bihar and the House condoles their death.
“We will stand in silence in memory of the children who lost their lives,” he said as members stood in silence for a moment.
Later raising the matter during Zero Hour Binoy Viswam (CPI) said the government has been calling the deaths an accident but “it should be called a murder”. Officially, 130 children have died but the number is as high as 180, he said, adding hospitals have no medicines and infrastructure to treat children suffering from encephalitis, a type of brain disease.
Malnutrition and unsafe water is responsible for the deaths, he said, adding 24 lakh children die every year due to malnutrition. He sought urgent improvement in health system and medical infrastructure and payment of “adequate compensation” to families of victims.
Meanwhile, Vikas Mahatme (BJP), while raising the issue of assault on doctors in West Bengal, demanded that such offences should be made a non-bailable offence crime and fast track courts should be set up to try the cases. He also accused that the West Bengal government did not handle the situation well, a remark which evoked vociferous protests from the TMC.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2KvuN7G
via Today’s News Headlines
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